Ugliest railway stations in the UK

[Guineveretoo]

I have always hated Reading station.

 

[Crispy]

There's not much to see outside, the station is all underneath a shopping centre.



Changing the platforms is gonna be a disruption and almost impossible considering where they are I would've thought.

This is what the outsides going to be like apparently (at moment it's not disimilar to that pic of London Bridge, but with taxis instead of buses)

Thing is, they could have built a new station over the road to the East and had loads more space for platforms. Arup porposed the Grand Central Station for this site, but it's now going to built on as part of the Eastside development. A completely stupid decision. Enlarging New Street is going to have to happen at some point and it'll be a big mess.

 

[QueenOfGoths]

I have always hated Reading station.

Funnily enough I was going to suggest reading but it is quite nice inside with lots of coffee and eating places so I didn't

 

[quimcunx]

Oxford Station - thought it was going to be a pretty "Railway Children" style place but is horribly plastic inside with hardly anywhere to get a drink

That must suck the soul from all those tourists and fresh, bright-eyed students on first visit.

 

[PacificOcean]

Bishop Stortford:

Harlow:

But have to agree nothing compares to New Street.

 

[Crispy]

Wow! What a loss. I didn't know that other London stations were grand (other than St Pancras, I mean). Was it bombed, do we know? Or did they actually decide to get rid of it?

It was purposefully demolished. They were going to demolish St. Pancras Chambers too, but the outcry after Euston prevented it.

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

Birmingham New St then:

Birmingham New St now:

Progress. It sucks.

 

[Callie]

Nah, I quite like East Croydon, as modern stations go it's pretty good.

Inside is fine but that weird white scaffolding bridge thing is vile. I don't really understand it, what is it for?

Thornton Heath station reminds me a bit of what E. Croydon used to look like. It was a brick building, with a clock - not enough clock on buildings imo. I just prefer how it was even if it wasn't big enough to accommodate the rise in use of the station.

here you go guin:

http://www.oldukphotos.com/graphics/England Photos/Surrey, Croydon, East Croydon Station.jpg

trams and everything

 

[joevsimp]

That must suck the soul from all those tourists and fresh, bright-eyed students on first visit.

it looks like its made out of those red tubes, blue sheets and black joiny bits you use to make little playhouses and stuff with in infants school

 

[mattie]

Harlow has a certain style, admittedly a 1950s bag-of-a-fag-packet one but a style nonetheless. There are a few on that line of a similar design, Broxbourne etc, sadly Harlow's is perhaps the most delapidated.

Stortford's is pretty grim though.

 

[Bakunin]

Another vote for Birmingham New Street here.

I pass through it only very occasionally, but its always struck me as having not a single redeeming feature.

 

[Andrew Hertford]

Birmingham New St for me too.

Do you remember Dundee in its pre-improvement 70's glory?

Grim as fuck IMO.



Corrour Station always struck me as a wee bit bleak:

A train running in the snow. You Scotts are so eccentric.

 

[mr steev]

Another vote for Birmingham New Street here.

I pass through it only very occasionally, but its always struck me as having not a single redeeming feature.

How would you know if you just pass through it?
It has a pub!

 

[Bakunin]

How would you know if you just pass through it?
It has a pub!

I've had the unrivalled joy of changing trains and having to wait there, oh what a soulful and uplifting experience it is.

Actually, I am wrong. It does have one redeeming feature, which is that it takes me out of Birmingham.

 

[mattie]

How would you know if you just pass through it?
It has a pub!

You'd fucking need a drink.

Dank, smelly, smokey, and constant hassles finding out which connecting platform you need. Which will probably be intentionally changed at the last minute as there's not enough room to let people off the train as the original platform is crowded. Cue loads of people legging it to the new platform so they don't miss the delayed train they've waited hours for and running straight into those getting off the train itself.

 

[Bakunin]

You'd fucking need a drink.

Dank, smelly, smokey, and constant hassles finding out which connecting platform you need. Which will probably be intentionally changed at the last minute as there's not enough room to let people off the train as the original platform is crowded. Cue loads of people legging it to the new platform so they don't miss the delayed train they've waited hours for and running straight into those getting off the train itself.

I have had that very experience at Birmingham New Street. Having my platform changed at five minutes notice, while carrying a large holdall, full rucksack and tent is not a laughing matter.

 

[ovaltina]

Milton Keynes railway station is horrible.

It takes ages to get to, is all above ground so it's cold in the winter, and has a too-loud tannoy with the most annoying station announcer in the world.

 

[johnnymarrsbars]

err...salford crescent:

and thread.

 

[editor]

Wow! What a loss. I didn't know that other London stations were grand (other than St Pancras, I mean). Was it bombed, do we know? Or did they actually decide to get rid of it?

It was destroyed by planners in the 60s who also demolished the famous Arch outside.

The arch was so loved that the demolition contractor famously offered to re-erect the Arch at his own expense on a site chosen by British Railways and they told him to bog off

Apparently, some of the stones are still intact, lying on the Thames riverbed at Bow Creek and in the gardens and ponds of the men contracted to demolish the arch.

 

[editor]

Dank, smelly, smokey, and constant hassles finding out which connecting platform you need. Which will probably be intentionally changed at the last minute as there's not enough room to let people off the train as the original platform is crowded. Cue loads of people legging it to the new platform so they don't miss the delayed train they've waited hours for and running straight into those getting off the train itself.

Yep. It's an awful, awful station.

 

[felixthecat]

Birmingham New Street wins hands down. If you wanted to give the railway system an enema, New Street is where you'd stick the tube.

 

[pogofish]

I'm not a pre70's model, so not so much. Was it dreadful?

Utterly & it persisted in all its run-down, faded plastic & fibreglass glory till just a few years back - Late 90s/early 2000s maybe?

 

[quimcunx]

Utterly & it persisted in all its run-down, faded plastic & fibreglass glory till just a few years back - Late 90s/early 2000s maybe?

Ah. I thought you meant it was done up in the 70s.


I vaguely remember a spruce up, didn't think it changed much.


I'm not very observant.

 

[editor]

Cardiff Queen Street went from a glorious piece of Victorian engineering with an attractive glazed overall roof, cafe/restaurant, five platforms and several waiting rooms to a stripped down cramped island platform with a bland exterior and awful plastic cafe.

They reopened a platform a while ago and now they're looking at putting all the original platforms back, although no doubt the job will be done as cheaply as possible.

Incidentally, it's really hard to find pictures of the old station.

 

[pogofish]

Ah. I thought you meant it was done up in the 70s.

Yes, that happened too. Which persisted more or less till a few years back.

 

[Donna Ferentes]

That must suck the soul from all those tourists and fresh, bright-eyed students on first visit.

And what's great is, that's after they did it up because it was the first thing tourists saw arriving in Oxford.

Birmingham New Street perhaps looks even worse than it is because the surrounding area is so grim (and easy to get lost in). I was going to say London Bridge is worse but in truth, it isn't.

Is Coventry still horrible?

 

[Donna Ferentes]

Incidentally is that pub-cum-station-bar still great at Euston? I forget its name.

 

[electrogirl]

Ashford International

If it doesn't make you want to get the fuck out of country, I don't know what will.

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

Not even close to New Street, but I always think Ebbsfleet should have been a more impressive edifice:

 

[skyscraper101]

Swindon, anyone?